Concept of Text Text

2.3 Text

The following are elaboration of text; I will discuss concept of text, contexts in a text, systemic linguistics, generic structure and lexicogrammatical feture, and kinds of text.

2.3.1 Concept of Text

Basically, the activity of verbal communication is a process of making text, spoken or written, in which happen because of people interpret and perceive the text in a discourse. So, text is a product from context of situation and context of culture. For instance, when we speak English we must use both English vocabulary and English grammar so we are understandable for English native speaker. In a line with the assumption that using language communicatively do not need much more attention to the grammatical rule, we are not consider that this mistakes will be a big problem in formal and academic context. A text is very common in our life since we always produce it whenever we want to communicate with others. Macken, M. et al 1991: 6 state that language, as it is used in everyday life, occurs as a text. It means language itself is regarded as whole text because it has meaning that understood by others. In addition, Macken, M. et al 1991 also state that the term “text” is a way of talking about any meaningful piece of language, which is made coherent by the social context in which it is produced. A text should be coherent to make other people understand about its meaning. It also should have two 2 contexts; context of culture and context of situation to achieve its goal, i.e. entertaining or describing about something. A text can also be defined as any meaningful stretch of spoken or written language. It means when we use language to write, we are creating a text. When we read, we are interpreting texts and when we talk and listen, we are also creating and interpreting texts. For example when we have consultation with a doctor means we are creating a text and when we read a letter to the editor of a local newspaper means we are also interpreting a text. According to Derewianka 1990: 29, there are two types of text; oral and written text. Oral text is a text used in face to face situations, where the speakers jointly construct the meanings. Because they are in a shared context, there is often no need to conclude specific information in the conversation. On the other hand, written text is a text used in the written communication such as a letter or document. In the written text, all the information has to be in the text itself because the readers are usually distant in time and space and cannot ask for clarification or extra details from the writer. Furthermore, a text also can be categorized into two main categories – factual and literary text. Factual text is a text presents information, ideas or opinions in such a way as to inform, enlighten or persuade the readers or listeners. It provides the main ways for learning in other key learning areas and include those spoken and written texts that are produced in social situations, such as asking for and receiving directions, purchasing goods and services, discussing, debating, enquiring and conversing. Discussion, explanation, exposition, information report, procedure and recount are the categories of this text. On the other hand, a literary text is a text explores and interprets human experience in such a way as to evoke in the readers or listeners a reflective, imaginative and emotional response so that it can make the readers cry or laugh, think about their own life or consider their beliefs Anderson, 1997: 3. In interacting or engaging with literary text, students are able to emphasize the characters in different situations and events, extend their experiences, explore their own and others‟, values and attitudes, and enrich and expand their imaginative and critical capacities. This literary text includes narrative, poetry and drama. In this final project, I only focus on the written literary text because literary text is an important part of the English program. The engagement of a student with a literary text can be powerful and evocative experience which shapes the students‟ imagination and thinking. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that a text is any meaningful stretch of language – oral or written. It is produced creatively and systematically either spoken or in written. A text can be as short as a traffic warning about slippery roads in wet weather or as long as novel by William Shakespeare.

2.3.2 Contexts in a Text